Thore? Thare? Where the hell were we today? It turns out that the map is wrong. It switches the locations of these neighboring, similarly named villages. And, Cameron’s map was wrong too. Who checks this shit? Anyways, today we had grand ambitions to hike all the way to Gokyo. We didn’t get very far! Thankfully.

The day started beautifully with some wonderful lenticular clouds billowing up like giant jellyfish over Aba Dablam. Like yesterday, we were pretty much on our lonesome. Cameron gamely hobbled a few meters behind but still burning up the track a lot quicker than Kate who likes to take it very easy. We saw two other hikers all day.

The trail was high over the Dudh Kosi River and a real upper and downer. We seemed to get nowhere slow. The underfoot conditions were not great either. We really didn’t fancy slipping into the river several hundred feet below. The trail was practically deserted and we passed through a couple of sweet little villages on the … Read more

After much deliberation, we finally took the plunge and booked our flights to Nepal. Hiking in Nepal has always been a highlight of previous long trips to Asia and we were really looking forward to going back. Nepal always seemed to be bedeviled by strife and this year seemed no different. The devastating earthquake has been well documented at home but the recent fuel crisis (or blockade by India) has garnered considerably fewer headlines. It seemed that Nepal would be a no-go this year.

But something kept nagging us to go. Media images of post-earthquake Nepal seemed to suggest a country in total ruin. The current fuel crisis suggested a country on the verge of running out of vital commodities. As ever, Nepal always seems to cope with whatever shit is thrown at it. For sure, we saw plenty of collapsed buildings and the lack of gas pushed up transport and food prices but, on the whole, life went on as usual. Sadly, when Nepal is really in need of a ‘business as usual’ attitude from foreigners, … Read more